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Late Thursday, as rumors swirled concerning an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Although it is by no means a impeccable news source, her statement resonated for a lot of people. It remains one of the outlets where you can find grounded and generally reliable reporting – notably during crises such as the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Position During a Business Tug-of-War

But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two massive media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of business acquisition, not as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with origins in decades of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.

The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.

“It is often framed as a business story with key players as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.

The Additional Layer: Political Influence

The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.

Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

Trump has reason to favor that bidder more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.

An Outcome of More Turmoil

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That setup could position CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.

According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should prohibit both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu recently wrote.

The Fundamental Issue and a Path Forward

Whatever happens regarding CNN, the bigger problem endures.

“What we have now is a highly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.

Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.

Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are essential for a functioning democracy.

In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the latest acquisition battle.